Pivotal load bearing plate for wheelbarrows



April 6, 1966 L. l. GRABLE ETAL 3,

PIVOTAL LOAD BEARING PLATE FOR WHEELBARROWS Filed Sept. 21, l96 4 UnitedStates Patent 3,248,128 PIVOTAL LOAD BEARING PLATE FOR WHEELBARROWSLawrence I. Grable and Gilbert W. Grable, both of 12325 La Cadena Drive,Colton, Calif., and Donald L.

Grable, 546 Prospect St., Riverside, Highgrove, Calif.

Filed Sept. 21, 1964, Ser. No. 397,892 1 Claim. (Cl. 28047.31)

This invention relates to a wheelbarrow frame such as shown in ourpatent application, Serial No. 224,297, now US. Patent 3,199,891, inwhich many of the elements are the same as used in this application.

The general object of the invention is to provide a new and novel meansof protecting lawns, roofs, and other surfaces from damage from thefront end of the wheelbarrow frame, when dumping material upon a surfacewhich is susceptible to damage from high load concentration or shiftingwhen dumping, produced by the small area of contact presented by thesupporting front member of the conventional wheelbarrow.

A more specific object of our invention is to provide a pivotallymounted load bearing shoe attached to the wheelbarrow frame soconstructed and arranged that the shoe materially reduces the unitpressure on turf, roof or loosely packed earth, and, that the shoe doesnot shift position after the load is transferred from the wheel to theshoe when dumping the load; this prevents any damage to the turf, roof,etc.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein:

FIG. 1, is an elevational view of a wheelbarrow embodying the pivotallymounted load bearing shoe of our invention. 7

FIG. 2, is an elevational view of the wheelbarrow of FIG. 1, but showingthe application of the pivotally mounted shoe in load bearing positionwhen the barrow is raised to discharge its load.

FIG. 3, is a fragmentary plan view of the front end of the wheelbarrowto show in enlarged detail, the load bearing shoe and its pivotallymounted elements, the view being taken along the lines 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4, is a side elevation of the elements shown in FIG. 3, the viewbeing taken on thelines 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5, is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the pivotallymounted load bearing shoe, as it appears in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6, is an exploded view in perspective showing the shoe and thebarrow frame elements which provide for pivotal movement of the shoe.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters we have shown ourinvention as embodied in a wheelbarrow which is indicated generally at10. As shown, the wheelbarrow, 10, includes a pair of tubular metalextensions 11a and 1117, which project forwardly and downwardly from thecenter section of the wheelbarrow frame, 11, which has a front tie bar,110, that is encircled by the shoe plate pivot, 20b, that is attached tothe shoe plate, 20a, to comprise the shoe plate generally, 20.

3,248,128 Patented Apr. 26, 1966 "ice Welded to front extension, 11a, isa stop, 11s, which controls the position of the shoe limiting thecounterclockwise movement to prevent the shoe from contacting theperiphery of the wheel 13.

In FIG. 2, the arrangement is shown diagrammatically wherein thewheelbarrow, 10, assumes the dumping position on the surface, T, withthe shoe contacting the surface, T; in this position it will be notedthat the entire surface of the shoe is in'full contact with the surface,T, with the pressure applied along the longitudinal center line of theshoe, 20, before the load is transferred from the wheel, 13, to theshoe, 20; that shoe, 20, has several times the bearing area of thewheel, 13, eliminating any possibility of the shoe shifting itsposition, under load, while dumping. Y

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that we have a novel improvementto a wheelbarrow which can be economically manufactured and which isstrong in construction and with which loads can be safely dumped withoutdamage to the supporting surface, T. 7

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

In combination with a wheelbarrow, a flat pivotal load bearing platemounted on said wheelbarrow, said wheelbarrow including a load carryingtray and a carrier wheel, said carrier wheel being mounted forward ofthe center of gravity of the tray, a frame structure including spacedside members positioned under said tray and secured thereto; a supportattached to each side member of said frame to the rear of the center ofgravity of said tray; said car- -rier wheel mounted on a load carryingaxle one end of which is attached to one of said side members and theother end is attached to the other of said side members forward of thesupports and the center of gravity of said tray; a cylindrical tiemember connected to the extreme front end of each of said side membersforward of and enclosing the carrier wheel; a cylindrical tube rotatablymounted on and encircling said tie member between the frame sidemembers; said flat plate attached to said tube along its longitudinalcenter line with the ends of the tube equidistant respectively from theends of said plate; said plate and said tube being free to rotate aroundsaid cylindrical tie member at the front end of the said frame sidemembers; a stop attached to the front portion of one of said sidemembers adjacent to the said cylindrical tie member for engaging saidflat plate to prevent rotation of said plate into the periphery of thecarrier wheel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,365,106 1/1921Hyde 280-4712 1,436,965 11/ 1922 Landkamer 28(l47.31- X 2,462,424 2/1949 Popplewell 298 -3 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,281,947 12/ 1961 France.

1,287,203 l/ 1962 France.

BENJAMIN HERSH, Primary Examiner.

I. A. PEKAR, Assistant Examiner.

